MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA: A view of the minarets and domes of The Grand Mosque

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA: One of the
1,300 mosques in Jeddah, the second largest city in Saudi Arabia and
one of the principal gateways to the Holy City of Mecca

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
The Sheikh Zayed Mosque backdropped by a clear blue sky in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates. The Mosque, named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al
Nahyan, is the biggest mosque in the United Arab Emirates.

PATTANI, THAILAND: Thai Muslim
women pray during the special Eid ul-Fitr morning prayer at the Central
Mosque of Pattani in the southern province of Pattani, Thailand. The
beautiful mosque is the largest in Thailand. Pattani is one of the four
provinces of Thailand where the majority of the population (88%) are
Malay Muslim.

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN, UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA: An interfaith group rallies at the Islamic Center of
America in Dearborn, Michigan. It is the largest mosque in North America
and the oldest Shia mosque in the United States.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: A mosque in Leyton, London, England.

KAZAN, RUSSIA: The Qolsharif
Mosque in the Kazan Kremlin in Kazan, Russia. At the time of its
original construction in the 16th century, it was believed to be the
oldest mosque in Europe outside Istanbul. Named after Qolsharif, a
religious scholar and Imam of the Khanate of Kazan, who died in 1552
defending the mosque against Russian forces of Ivan the Terrible. It was
rebuilt and inaugurated in 2005. Kazan is in Tatarstan, a federal
subject of Russia in the Volga Federal District.

AUCKLAND,
NEW ZEALAND: The Ponsonby Mosque on in Ponsonby, Auckland, was built in
the 1970s. Islam first came to New Zealand in the 1870s with the
arrival of Muslim Chinese gold prospectors. Later waves of Muslim
immigrants came from India, Eastern Europe and Fiji.

LONDON, ENGLAND: The London Muslim Centre is one of the largest mosques in the United Kingdom.

MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA: Pilgrims
pray in the Grand Mosque, known to the faithful as Masjid al-Ḥaram,
during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the holy city of Mecca. At
the centre of the Grand Mosque is the Kaaba, a cuboid-shaped building
housing in its eastern corner the sacred Black Stone, which makes it the
holiest site in Islam. The Quran states that Abraham and his son
Ishmael raised the foundations of this holy house.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Pigeons fly
over the Wazir Khan Mosque in the walled city of Old Lahore in
Pakistan. The great mosque was built by built by Hakim Shaikh
Ilm-ud-din Ansari, court physician to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who
later rose to the status of governor. Construction began around
1634–1635 and lasted seven years.

ARAFAT, SAUDI ARABIA: Muslim
pilgrims attend noon prayers at the Nimira mosque in Arafat, outside the
holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Muslim pilgrims journey to Arafat, a
revered place in Islam, for the culmination of the Hajj rituals. Mount
Arafat, about 70 metres high, is a granite hill to the east of the Holy
City of Makkah. The pious believe that it was on Mount Arafat that Adam
and Eve, separated for 200 years, recognized each other and were
reunited.

TACNA, PERU: A mosque in Tacna, Peru. The city is home to a large number of Pakistani families.

MIDRAND, SOUTH AFRICA: The
Nizamiye Complex and Turkish Mosque, which opened in October 2012 in
Midrand, South Africa,is the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere.

ALEPPO, SYRIA: The Great Mosque
of Aleppo (Jami Halab al-Kabir) or the Ummayad Mosque of Aleppo, the
largest and oldest mosque in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. The
Citadel of Aleppo is a large medieval fortified palace which is
considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world.
Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd
millennium BC.

The Great Mosque
of Aleppo -Subsequently occupied by many
civilizations including the Greeks, Byzantines, Ayyubids and Mukluks,
the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to
originate from the Ayyubid period. Conservation work has taken place by
the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in collaboration with the Syrian
Directorate General of Antiquities in the early 21st century. Aleppo is
the largest city in Syria and the Levant. Aleppo is also one of the
oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it has been inhabited
since perhaps as early as the 6th millennium BC, which makes it the
oldest known human settlement in the world. Aleppo was a strategic
trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. For
centuries, was the third largest city in the Ottoman Empire, after
Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in
distance, Aleppo is distinct in identity, architecture and culture, all
shaped by a markedly different history and geography. The city's
significance in history has been its location at the end of the Silk
Road, which passed through central Asia

URGUP, TURKEY: Christians and
Muslims lived together peaceably in the caves in Zelve until the 20th
century. Here, an early mosque at the Zelve Open Air Museum in Zelve,
near Urgup.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Lebanon-born Imam Sheik

BRUNEI: The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in Bandar Seri
Begawan, Brunei is considered one of the most beautiful mosques in Asia
Pacific and unites Italian and Mughal architecture styles. Named after
Omar Ali Saifuddien III, the 28th Sultan of Brunei, the mosque dominates
the skyline of Bandar Seri Begawan. It was built in 1958.

KASHI, CHINA: Muslims
pray outside a mosque in Kashi of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,
northwest China. Kashi is an oasis city which has been noted in ancient
times along the old silk road as a political and commercial centre. It
is the hub of an important commercial district, bordering Russia,
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan with
Pakistan to its south. The Islamic Uygur ethnic minority group
constitutes the majority of its population.

XINING, CHINA: Muslims
wait to attend Friday prayers in the rain at the Dongguan Mosque in
Xining, China. Dongguan Mosque is the biggest mosque in Qinghai
Province. It was built in 1380, and now boasts a history of more than
600 years. The mosque is not only famous for its magnificent
architecture but also as a religious education center and as the
highest learning institution of Islam.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA:
Muslims enter the Seoul Central Mosque in Seoul, South Korea. The only
mosque in Seoul, it holds lectures in English, Arabic, and Korean.

BANDA ACEH, SUMATRA, INDONESIA: The Baiturrahman Grand
Mosque, Indonesia, was designed by an Italian architect and built by the
Dutch colonial administration as a token of reconciliation following
their destruction of an older mosque during the Aceh wars. It was
completed in 1879. The mosque survived the 2004 Asian Tsunami that
devastated most of the city of Banda Aceh.

CASABLANCA, MOROCCO: The
Hassan II Mosque is the seventh largest mosque in the world. Standing
on a promontory of reclaimed land, looking out to the Atlantic Ocean, it
can accommodate 105,000 worshippers for prayer at a time. The
architecture has strong Moorish influences and is similar to that of the
Alhambra and the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain.

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Indian Muslims pray during morning prayers at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi, India.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL: Birds
fly over al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine
as seen from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.